The House on Wednesday is set to pass a pay raise for civilian federal employees in what Democrats are casting as both a necessity and a gesture of appreciation for a workforce reeling after a 35-day partial government shutdown.
The 2.6-percent raise is calibrated to match that given to military personnel in a 2019 spending bill passed last year. President Trump subjected the rest of the federal workforce to a pay freeze in a Dec. 28 executive order, though Congress could override that at any time.
Before the shutdown began, Senate appropriators had agreed on a 1.9 percent raise for civilian employees in 2019 but that provision — along with the rest of a federal spending agreement — got caught up in the standoff over Trump’s proposed southern border wall.
The ensuing shutdown caused 800,000 workers to have two paychecks delayed, and Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), the author of the bill, said the pay raise is “not only deserved, but it’s also symbolically important.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powe...ed8852-240c-11e9-90cd-dedb0c92dc17_story.html
The 2.6-percent raise is calibrated to match that given to military personnel in a 2019 spending bill passed last year. President Trump subjected the rest of the federal workforce to a pay freeze in a Dec. 28 executive order, though Congress could override that at any time.
Before the shutdown began, Senate appropriators had agreed on a 1.9 percent raise for civilian employees in 2019 but that provision — along with the rest of a federal spending agreement — got caught up in the standoff over Trump’s proposed southern border wall.
The ensuing shutdown caused 800,000 workers to have two paychecks delayed, and Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), the author of the bill, said the pay raise is “not only deserved, but it’s also symbolically important.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powe...ed8852-240c-11e9-90cd-dedb0c92dc17_story.html
